Adventures in Reality are the ebb and flow of thoughts, feelings, impressions and ideas affecting the tidal flow and structure of my life.

Robbers, bigots, and cheats…

Hello All from the Long Silence. These past few years have been hectic. I got a new ‘job’ called ‘house keeping for mother’. Many people, especially those who have regular jobs may not understand that this profession, if you can call it one, is not as easy or as leisurely as many think. It’s very much like being a mother/home-maker, which I was for 10 years of my married life i.e. home-maker. But, getting back to what I actually wanted to talk to you about, it seems to me these days that we have to cautiously interact with others, with a healthy amount of suspicion. What a healthy amount of suspicion is, I’m not too sure.

Yet, what I’ve witnessed at one time or another is the shameless commission of theft, daylight robbery and unabashed bigotry by various people, regardless of ethnicity and religion.

About 4 years ago, I was hunting for lunch in Batu Lanchang hawker center near the wet-market, when I heard the slam of vehicle doors and loud shouting outside. A crowd had gathered at the entrances facing the car park. There was a large Municipal lorry and a number of ‘council personnel’. It wasn’t clear if they were an authentic enforcement unit of the local council who were demanding identification cards from the itinerant durian sellers parked on the roadside. Many of them didn’t wear uniforms, just T-shirts and trousers. The durian sellers were probably only seasonal individuals who wanted to get a bit more money to top up their earnings. Times have become harder for many people as the Malaysian currency continues to fall and prices of fuel continue upwards to fill the pockets of wealthy companies. At present the government coffers increasingly bulge with GST and other taxes driven on by tax targets. It is debatable if the benefits we are paying for can be seen in real terms.

As many of the durian sellers were trying to scurry away while these supposed Municipal ‘personnel’ were grabbing their stock and loading it onto the lorry, one seller who was being ‘apprehended’ had the durians he had put out taken away as well as those still inside his car which he had not put on sale. Seeing this, there were people shouting that “they should not be doing that!”.This was daylight robbery in full view of a crowd! The poor seller was completely flabbergastered! He seemed so stunned at the ruthless cruelty of this action. It was totally unjustified, even if he didn’t have a license to hawk his goods. If these were genuine council personnel, they could have given him a summons to pay a fine and a warning that should they catch him again, his goods put out for sale would be confiscated. Such ‘daylight robbery’ whether legal or not is, to me, cruel and inhuman, depriving poor people struggling to make a living or to make ends meet, of the one thing that might save them from starvation. Often authorities offer no compensation or compassion for one’s circumstances. Laws can be unjust and cruel if not tampered with mercy.

Then, there are the bigots, who think they are wise but are really making life difficult for most ordinary folk. An 89 year old person wanted to apply for UniFi in his home. He sent a friend to TM to inquire and get an application form for the installation of UniFi, an internet wifi -cum-phone-cum-TV package. He did this because he had no transport of his own and wanted this package so his children and grand-children could use it when they came round. A day later, his friend calls him on his mobile phone and says that TM refused to give him an application form for UniFi because the applicant is too old. They had no direct contact with the old man or even seen him in person, how would they know if he was unable to use a computer, landline phone or watch TV? What TM did was out right baseless age discrimination. There are elderly people are very alert and capable of using a computer, most are capable of using a phone and all are capable of watching TV, unless prevented by hearing or visual disability. Who are TM to judge someone they know nothing about and worse still haven’t seen in person? So, Telecom Malaysia discriminates against elderly people. There is no regulation that says that persons over 80 years old are banned from using wifi, computers, phones or watching TV. This is utter rubbish!

Then, there are the cheats who come out of the woodwork of legitimate businesses. A friend, had a watch literally stolen by a watch repairer. You don’t expect a watch repairer who has been doing business for a while to steal your watch when all you want him to do is to repair it. This happened in Penang Road opposite KOMTAR. My friend pointed out the last watch shop in the row going down Penang Road that has a repair facility outside, next to the shop. If you come across it, don’t go there, you risk losing your watch too.

Here is one interesting item to consider. You may find the complainant on Facebook. Cases like this occurred in Selangor in the early 2000s. What has the poor animal done to them?